forest

Optimism

by mechanicalpencil13

***

Whatever happens, I say, optimism strangling the words

We're going to have to make a shelter

Emmi and Caroline stand

Determination replacing confusion

Resolution replacing despair

Okay, but how? Emmi asks

Trees, I say, rolling my eyes

They follow me as I walk with a purpose

Into the living forest

To find dead branches

Fallen trees

Luckily there is no shortage of those

The storm has made sure of that

Emmi and I tear the trunks from their stumps

The damp wood groans and snaps with a wet snap

We make a pile

Caroline ranges around us

She returns with an armful of branches

Big sticks she has broken from the living trees

Emmi and I grab either end of our pile

Hoist it over out shoulders

Walk back through the forest

Anticipation lightening every step

We have lost Alex

We have lost our home

But we will live

We will build a new home

Surrounded by the trees and the humming water

The twittering of returning birds

Live on the plentiful berries

The rabbits I see out of the corner of my eyes

Bounding away as we pass

The trunks bump against the trees

We weave through the maze

Feet squishing and splashing in the mud

Caroline laughs as the wet earth sucks in her feet

and releases them with a slurp

We return to the clearing

Passing the distinctive ring of saplings

Carefully place the pile in the center of the clearing

Emmi and I jump out of the way

To save our toes before we drop the wood on them

We giggle, turn to Caroline

Come on, I say.

Dump your branches.

We'll need a lot more than this.

Her eyes stare past me

I tense, fear leaping up my throat

What now? I almost ask

I turn, follow her blank gaze

To the leaping, living, running river

That is no longer leaping, living, running

Or even a river

But an empty, bone-dry bed